The present invention relates to a device for the stitching of folded printed products having a plurality of sheets.
A device of this type is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,897 and the corresponding EP-A-0399 317. The disclosed device has circulating saddle-shaped supports for printed products along a closed circulating path running through a stitching region. At least during passage through the stitching region, the supports are arranged parallel to one another and extend at right angles to their circulating direction. In addition, the device has a stitching arrangement which includes a number of stitching heads which move along a closed movement path at the speed of movement of the supports. The spacing between the stitching heads essentially corresponds to the spacing between the supports. In the stitching region, the movement path runs parallel to the circulating path of the supports. Thus, in a section of the stitching region, a stitching head meets with each support and runs along together with the support. In this section, the stitching head sets a wire staple, which it has shaped from a section of wire accepted from a wire section dispenser, into the back of the corresponding printed product which is lying on the support. The end sections of the two flanks of the wire staple which extend beyond the printed product are bent by bending elements which are arranged in the supports. Thus, wire stitching which holds together the sheets of the printed product is produced. Wire stitchings of this kind are useful but a large quantity of wire is needed. If printed products with only a few sheets as well as products with many sheets are to be processed with this type of device, it is necessary to design the stitching arrangement such that various wire thicknesses and wire section lengths can be processed.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a device which enables reliable stitching together of printed products without wire, with a high processing capacity, and with a simple construction.